So my ye olde schoole TV is finally on the fritz so I'm making the jump to flatscreens. The short version as to why not before now is simple - wasn't a priority financially. Those who know my dedication to film may be picking their jaws up right now, but that's how tight the last few several years have been. SO! Now that I'm finally in the market and doing all manner of research, I've come to the conclusion that a good 47" would be perfect. Due to the space in our den, anything bigger wouldn't really work. I mean it might, but I'm preferring to stick with the 45-47" range unless some dazzling deal happens to hit on a 50". Then I'd take that and plan for the den in our next house to work with it more than the current one.

So, I'm looking for some help. I've found some good Panasonics and Samsungs and LGs and Vizios available, and I'm looking to spend between $600 - to maybe 750. Maybe. Right now, I'm leaning against that much and leaning more towards $600-ish, but I might be persuaded if the right TV was available. Do any of you have a preference on where to buy them? I actually found some really good deals over at Sears, and walked through the aisles at Best Buy to see the units in person (also to judge size, but not to buy). There's a Tiger Direct down the street from my work so I might hit them in the next day or so to again actually see the units and maybe mess with the configurations a bit to get a handle on things.

Thoughts and suggestions are very welcome and I hope to get a good sense from you about what brands to avoid, even if the price is outstanding. Thanks!

free shipping. No tax. Ive purchased very expensive TVs from Amazon with absolute confidence. My friend payed the full retail price and liked the TV so much that he bought a second unit for his man-cave. My recommendation is to always stick with the tier 1 manufacturers: Panasonic, Samsung, Sony. Avoid Vizio, Westinghouse, Insignia, etc. The fit-and-finish, and overall build quality suffer somewhat in comparison to the previously mentioned brands. They are by no means bad TVs, but the devil is in the details.

in your price range I would personally get this, but as mentioned above, I'm very biased and vastly prefer to do my gaming on a plasma:

At your price range buy a Panasonic plasma. The low end 50" can be had for as low as $450. Even these bottom of the barrel 720p plasmas look better than the vast majority of the much more expensive LED sets you'll see. Spend a little more and you an get a 1080p plasma for well within your budget.